CORVALLIS, ORE.-John W. Buck has been named full-time manager of the Whiteside Theatre, it was announced by Charles Whiteside for the owners. Whiteside indicated that he would still be active in theatre operations but would devote more time to hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.

I was in Corvallis week-before-last, in order to visit a high school friend of mine who lives in Monmouth. It turns out that he knows the above-quoted Paul Turner, and took me to Paul’s Avalon Cinema to meet him. He had the exact story to tell which is quoted above with regards to the Whiteside.

Indeed the Whiteside is a beautiful theatre. Paul, as well as a couple of other people I spoke with, indicated that retail use is the next likely use for the Whiteside, with retention of the exterior and some aspects of the original interior likely. I took many exterior photos, with the knowledge that next time I go up to visit my Monmouth friend, the theatre probably won’t look as good or intact.

Here is a March 2006 opinion (or e-pinion, perhaps) from icorvallis.com about the closing of the Whiteside:

Numbers don’t favor revival of old Whiteside Theater

by Paul Turner

In the course of kindling the phoenix of the Avalon Cinema, I stumbled upon a piece of Corvallis history: the ticket stub from the last show at the Whiteside Theater. It was from January 2002. The movie was “Lord of the Rings.” It was the last movie on the last night that the last movie palace in Corvallis had something shimmering on its silver screen.

The Whiteside Theater is owned by Regal Cinemas, the same folks who bring you the Ninth Street Cinemas. They closed the Whiteside a couple of years before Carmike dropped that 12-plex into north town. Wonder if they ever considered that keeping the Whiteside open might’ve made Carmike back off our fair hamlet – at least for a while. Every day when I walk past the closed doors of the Whiteside, I contemplate the circumstantial dominos that fell and led to her fall. People still wonder why I opened a theater across the street rather than putting my energy into the Corvallis icon. When folks ask directly, I usually cut them short by pointing out, “If you have a million-five you’re not doing anything with, I’ll be glad to take her on.”

I really hope they reopen it as a theatre… it was the best place to see a movie since all the multiplexes in the area were (still are?) absoultey horrific. Sad to think that movie viewing experience and technology peaked in 1922 for that area. I saw Silence of the Lambs with my friend and were completely freaked out. I also saw Rocky Horror at a midnight showing and was picking stuff out of my hair for days. Good times…